A Well-Deserved Snub

The man who refused to shake McConnell's hand is identified as Bobby Rankin, who told The Washington Post on Monday he blamed McConnell for denying veterans’ benefits to his brother before he died last October from cancer after being exposed to contaminated water while serving in the Marines. 

“When I saw Mitch McConnell, all I saw was my brother’s face,” Rankin told the Post.

Rankin told the Post that Cummings reached out to McConnell to help get Rankin’s brother his military benefits.

“I could not put my hands in the man’s hand who refused to help somebody who served his country,” Rankin told the Post, later adding, “I couldn’t do it, because I was thinking about my brother.”


He said his brother was already on his mind when he spotted McConnell, as it was near the anniversary of his brother’s death. He told the paper he wasn’t clear about why his brother didn't receive his benefits or McConnell’s precise role in the battle to get them after the cancer returned.

Rankin met Cummings at a gas station in Baltimore more than two decades ago and stayed close as Cummings continued his political career, according to the Post.


“When I carry him to his grave, if I could say something to him, I would say something I said to him many, many times before,” Rankin told the Post. “What a mighty, mighty man he is.”

Monday Morning Smile

Sunday Mellow Sunday

Before Chaka Khan's "I Feel for You" became a smash hit, the song existed only as an unreleased acoustic demo by Prince — who was just 20 years old at the time.

Deepwater Horizon Site 9 Years Later

Obama on Cummings

@BarackObama
 on Cummings “He would remind all of us that our time is too short not to fight for what is good...and what is best in America. It falls upon each of us to give voice to the voiceless and comfort to the sick...and to preserve and nurture our democracy”

drumpfster with bear spray

A man wearing a “Make American Great Again” cap was arrested on Saturday after allegedly spraying bear repellant into a crowd of people protesting against President Donald Trump at the Santa Monica Pier in California.

Bystanders brought the assailant to a police station, which was just steps away from the scene. KTLA identified him as 32-year-old David Nicholas Dempsey, who was booked on suspicion of illegal use of tear gas, assault with a caustic chemical and parole violations. The station said he was on parole from a weapons conviction.

AOC vs Zuckerberg

Monday Morning Smile

Sunday Morning Break

RIP Elijah Cummings

From AP News: Maryland Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, a sharecropper's son who rose to become the powerful chairman of a House committee that investigated President Trump, has died at age 68. Cummings was a formidable orator who passionately advocated for the poor.

Cummings’ long career spanned decades in Maryland politics. He rose through the ranks of the Maryland House of Delegates before winning his congressional seat in a special election in 1996 to replace former Rep. Kweisi Mfume, who left the seat to lead the NAACP. Cummings was an early supporter of Barack Obama’s presidential bid in 2008. By 2016, Cummings was the senior Democrat on the House Benghazi Committee, which he said was “nothing more than a taxpayer-funded effort to bring harm to Hillary Clinton’s campaign” for president. Throughout his career, Cummings used his fiery voice to highlight the struggles and needs of inner-city residents. He was a firm believer in some much-debated approaches to help the poor and addicted, such as needle exchange programs as a way to reduce the spread of AIDS.

Monday Morning Smile

In Distress

TGIF

This video makes me SO happy.  Thanks to my FB friend Alison for sharing it.

Monday Morning Smile

via GIPHY

SRV

On this date in 1954 one of the greatest blues rock musicians was born in Dallas,Texas. One of the most influential guitarists in the revival of blues in the 1980s, he attracted audiences previously averse to the genre.

RIP Stevie Ray Vaughan, you were taken from us too soon.